The present disclosure relates to text-to-speech systems.
Text-to-speech processing is also known as speech synthesis, that is, the artificial production of human speech from a text source. Text-to-speech conversion is a complex process that converts a stream of written text into an audio output file or audio signal. There are many conventional text-to-speech (TTS) programs that convert text to audio. Conventional TTS algorithms typically function by trying to understand the composition of the text that is to be converted. Example techniques can split text into phonemes, splitting phrases within a line of text, digitizing speech, and so forth.
TTS processing capability is useful for visually impaired computer users that have difficulty interpreting visually displayed content and for users of mobile and embedded computing devices, where the mobile and embedded computing devices may either lack a screen, possess a tiny screen unsuitable for displaying large amounts of content, or can be used in an environment where it is not appropriate for a user to visually focus upon a display. Such an inappropriate environment can include, for example, a vehicle navigation environment, where outputting navigation information to a display for viewing can be distracting to a driver. Thus, TTS systems provide a convenient way to listen to text-based communications.